Record Snowpack

The latest snowpack bulletin from the BC River Forecast Centre doesn't do much to calm flood concerns.

Head of the Centre, Dave Campbell, says the latest readings show the Okanagan snowpack at 206 percent of normal. He says that is one of the highest since B.C. began recording snowpacks in the 1980s.

Campbell says mid-elevation snow started to melt about 10 days ago, and the upper elevations are just getting started. He says with the forecast calling for rain and warm temperatures -- that combination could lead to problems for areas already under flood watches. We could see 10 to 20 mm of rain in the North Okanagan Wednesday. Okanagan Lake will go over full pool again this year.

Chris Duffy, with Emergency Management BC says they've shipped two million sandbags, 10 kilometres of tiger dams, a kilometre of gabions, and 150 wildfire crew members are filling sandbags. Lumby is one of those communities where forestry crews are filling sandbags.

The entire City of Kelowna is now under a State of Local Emergency, as are Peachland and West Kelowna.